Mary Shannahan/Shannon

Mary Shannahan, my g-g-grandmother, was born in Knockainey April 5 1829, the daughter of Matthew Shannahan and Norry Simms. She emigrated to Melbourne, Australia (possibly on the Cambodia from Plymouth though this cannot be confirmed) where she married George Ball from Northamptonshire, England, in 1854. The marriage certificate describes Mary as a servant, George as the son of a police commissioner. Together they had nine children, moving to New Zealand where she died aged 56 on November 15, 1886. At least one of the children, Mary Ann, my g-grandmother, moved back to Australia.

An alternative version of events has Mary Shanahan convicted of larceny in Tipperary in 1840 and transported to Van Diemans Land (Tasmania) in 1841 on the convict ship Mexborough. She was freed in 1851